The present invention relates in general to portable covered refuse receptacles or containers, commonly referred to as "trash cans", and more particularly to portable covered refuse receptacles having means for compressing and assisting discharge of the contents from the receptacle into expendable trash bags and the like.
Heretofore, trash cans or refuse receptacles for collecting trash, refuse and debris have simply involved a main container or receptacle section, for example about 2' to 21/2' in height, of upwardly opening cup shaped configuration, having an upwardly diverging or flaring side of truncated conical configuration with an integral or fixed bottom spanning the receptacle near the lower end thereof, frequently spaced above the lower end by a downwardly extending annular lip or bead, and having a flanged or beaded upper edge onto which a lid or closure cover fits to removably close the upper end of the receptacle section. For a long time, these lower receptacle and upper lid or cover sections were made of metal, frequently galvanized metal, but in recent years have been commonly made of molded rigid, or semi-rigid, plastic material.
In substantially all cases, the bottom of the receptacle section was a circular disk-like sheet metal or plastic bottom disk shaped section fixedly joined at its edges to the encircling side wall of the receptacle portion, and commonly thin polyethylene bags or other thin plastic liner bags have been employed as an insert liner in the receptacle to receive the refuse or debris. Frequently, problems have arisen with transferring of trash or debris from such containers when they did not use thin plastic collecting bags as liners into such trash containers, either where local municipal requirements call for trash to be collected in bags for pickup, or where it is desired by the user to retain trash in that manner. Also, it has been difficult to achieve effective transfer of the contents of the customary refuse receptacles or trash cans particularly when used for collecting lawn and garden debris into collection bags, and to achieve some compaction or compression of the contents of the container before or during the transfer operation.
An object of the present invention, therefore, is the provision of a novel portable trash or debris receptacle and cover structure which effectively overcomes many of the disadvantages referred to above associated with prior available trash receptacles.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel trash or debris receptacle and cover structure, particularly for lawn and garden debris, having a manually movable piston disk forming the bottom of the receptacle which is readily movable manually when the cover is removed and the receptacle is positioned for discharge of its contents into a bag or other container, to compress the contents and thereby reduce the volume of the load while transferring the same to a trash bag or similar expandable container.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel trash or debris receptacle, cover, and discharge piston bottom structure as described in the preceding paragraph, which is of durable construction capable of reasonably withstanding the hard usage customary for such structures and which is particularly convenient for collection, compression and discharge of lawn and garden debris and the like.
Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.